Sea of Red
by Redspectacle
Summary: Mandy Sterling is the spiritually-broken, lost Slayer during the Rapture she failed to be taken in. Left to a world being dominated by hate and violence, the European Union's primary weapon is a powerhouse of demons and vampires which the Slayer must dest
1. Default Chapter

Sea of Blood  
  
I  
Somewhere in the United States, 2037  
  
The crash awoke Mandy Sterling with a start. She closed her eyes, smiled. It was the police sirens once again, undoubtedly searching for the men and women the President of the United States of Europe had deemed "sickening, a crudely-made opposition to a better Europe." The perverse orders had even infected the crumbling United States, and officials all throughout the world were swift in making the orders. Mandy's eyes darted over her belongings as her heart seemingly stopped thumping in her chest. Was it her imagination, or had the sound of the police vehicle grown loudest-and faded-in front of her apartment?  
She hated to think if the police were coming to bust the land's squatters. Her eyes darted frantically over her belongings. If they were coming, what items of value could she possibly take? The filth and grime stuck to the rotting walls, the torn and shredded purple curtains that reeked with the stench of decomposition? She shook her head and lowered her gaze. Only the clothes on her back and the stake attached to her belt were of value.  
Slowly, she took herself to the window and peered out. Indeed, the squad car was directly below the window. With a heavy sigh, she rolled her eyes. It looked like another night of fleeing upon the rooftops.  
There was a loud crash, followed by the clicking of a trigger. She let out a cry as she listened to the wood aside her head splinter from the force of a bullet. Woodchips flung at her face as she defensively raised her arms for protection. Heavy footsteps came up behind her.  
"Ma'am. We see that you appear to be carrying some sort of.stake? You're ordered to drop your weapons, or do you think you're going to stab me to death? Sugar, before you could even get close to me, I'd have you filled with bullets."  
She turned to the man behind her and blinked. He wasn't much older than she was, she presumed, but then again, a lot of the recently elected weren't as old as their predecessors were. Many fathers, grandfathers, mothers, and grandmothers had mysteriously vanished in the twinkle of an eye nearly three weeks ago, but the buzz had not yet faded. Celebrities crowded the screens of the televisions whining and griping about their losses of a brother, a sister, even a parent or two. Amanda Sky Sterling had lost her parents and five siblings. As far as she knew, she was the last remaining Sterling of her bloodline in the state. And who knew how many other girls her age were facing the same situation? She offered a sympathetic smile to the officer.  
"I take it you lost someone, too?"  
"That's none of your business, Ma'am. Hands above your head, and you'd better be silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law."  
"Your father? Did you lose your father?" She blinked, glancing to the tarnished copper bar that read 'Temple' on his blue coat. He narrowed his silver eyes at her and raised his gun.  
"So what if I lost my father?"  
"I lost mine, too."  
For a moment, the officer fell silent before shaking his head.  
"This is an arrest, Miss Sterling. You're not to be making such catty remarks."  
"You seem to be forgetting that order in this world is gone. There's no such thing as the 'court of law' or 'fairness' or 'justice' anymore. You've been given permission to slaughter over three billion people worldwide."  
'Temple,' as Mandy so far knew him, closed his eyes in indecisiveness. Somewhere further beyond sirens blared again. Mandy closed her eyes and looked to him. His lips pursed shut before cracking slightly.  
"What's your name?"  
"Aaron." He blinked, lifting his gaze to her. "Run until you find someplace safe.the library downtown is unusually vacant, and surprisingly enough, we've made no busts for squatters there yet. I'll head back to the station and destroy your records."  
Her lips curled into a smirk. "Then we'll meet again?"  
"You have ten seconds before you start shooting."  
Mandy unsheathed her stake and tore out the window. The freezing November air chilled her to the bone, and she slid slowly across the tiles of the roof. There were more voices coming from inside her small apartment, and it took all of her strength to continue going forward. She and her family had lived in utter poverty their entire lives, and had engaged in almost complete peace until the European Union's President, Brooklynn Savannah, had issued his orders for a better world. She could still remember that television broadcast in the back of her mind.  
".It is this day mandated that every one of the hunger, of the African American, of the Asian, of the Hispanic, of the Native American, and any other race that is not of Caucasian; it is mandated that all of the poverty-stricken, debtors, Christians, and Jews be imprisoned until further notice here in the United States of Europe. I have contacted my fellow friend, the President of the United States, and after considerable actions, we have decided that this is the proper course of action. I have been your President, my friends, for three-and-a-half years, and oh, it has been a blissful reign. Let us advance in our prospects for a peaceful world union.!"  
Mandy shook her head and blinked her tears away. She was the Slayer, born destined to fight all traces of evil, born for salvation no matter how she lived her life. Wild nights of intoxication and lustful play had left her spiritually broken and lost. The God she had so long believed was just a mere by-stander in her sinful affairs had left her, muddled her into a pile of people who were so far beneath her. Perversities were everywhere, having gained a tight reign over the world-and even her life. For the three weeks after the disappearances of her family members, she had engaged in long nights of fun, as even her Watcher had mysteriously vanished with them. There was no longer anyone around to tell her how to live her life, and for some time, it had been enjoyable to have her freedom.  
Until the police started investigating her neighborhood, anyway; she had lived in peace until the police started beating down her door nearly every day, pleading with her to give proof of her billing payments. Anyone three months or more behind in their rent and whatnot was considered a debtor, and imprisoned-or, as she knew, murdered, though the media would not report such atrocities to a blind, mentally impaired world. She was alone.  
Her feet didn't stop until she was standing on the footsteps of the nice but vacant library. Nice, darkly-stained glass windows served to shield out the light, and the dark bricks seemed to have the appeal of a Church or synagogue. She moved towards the door and gripped the handle-and when it didn't give way, she slammed a fist through the glass, her lips peeling into a smirk.  
"Hope no one's home, unless they want to be rained down on by shards of glass."  
Soon enough, her feet were on the library's plush carpet-a place she'd rarely been, even when attending to her schooling. She managed a heavy sigh as she paced through the rows of books, biting her lip as she remembered all the others who had probably stepped through these halls. How many of them had been taken away to a land of bliss-and how many others were left behind to Hell?  
Tap, tap.  
Mandy lifted her head and raised her stake.  
"Nice. Robbing a library? Really, the jewelry and electronics stores are just across the street."  
"Oh, darling Amanda Sterling.I'm not here to rob the library at all."  
  
She blinked as a man nearing his late twenty's emerged from the shadows on a pearly cane, his dark eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. She bit her lip and giggled.  
"Let me guess, you're a vampire?"  
"No, Miss Sterling. Your watcher."  
She violently shook her head. Benjamin Watts was her watcher, and even though at the time she had hated the grandfatherly man, she was really beginning to miss the sound of his voice-especially now that the young man before her claimed to be replacing him. Vehemently, she shook her head.  
"No."  
"No?"  
"I'm the Slayer. You're the victim. Stay out of my way, I stay out of yours. Damn you, fool. Never speak such blasphemies to my face!" 


	2. Talking to Books

Chapter II  
  
Mandy hadn't spoken in what seemed to be hours, though it had really been only a few minutes at the most. The man before her claimed to be a Watcher, although it was common knowledge that it took years and years to train for such a job, but something about this fellow told her that he was wise beyond his few years. His hair was neatly trimmed and spiked with mousse on his head, and his dark green eyes pierced with honesty. She managed a heavy sigh.  
"So, tell me the story again. What are you doing in my town?"  
He pulled the corners of his lips back into a polite smile.  
"My name is William Hearst. The Watcher's Council has appointed me as your new Watcher."  
"You're obviously a fraud," she snapped. "The Watcher's Council crumbled along with this country about three years ago. They don't send Watchers out anymore-it's like girls are supposed to obey the calling of the Slayer on your own."  
"Ma'am, I thought you'd heard of Buffy Summers?"  
"Buffy Summers?"  
"Buffy Summers, formerly a resident of the fallen Sunnydale, California. As you know, all girls obey their calling at the most opportune time. There's no longer the chosen 'One', but the chosen several. You're one of many girls that the Council is scrambling to get support for."  
"It's not like we don't know what we're doing, buddy."  
"Ma'am, we've not only lost many Slayers worldwide, we've also seen the departure of many Watchers. Now, we don't claim to have a healthy expiration date, but even I must admit we've lost an unusual number. Vampires and demons are abounding, Mandy."  
"So? It doesn't mean that I have to deal with this stupid stuff. There's Slayers all over the place."  
"And demons in even more places."  
She sighed heavily in defeat.  
"Fine, you win. You know, if it weren't for your stupid Watcher's Council in the first place, I wouldn't be here to deal with all of this stupid stuff."  
"If it weren't for you, Mandy, pray tell what would have happened to the remainder of the people in this world! You've saved countless of lives. We received your previous Watcher's last reports about your work."  
Mandy shook her head. "No, that's not what I mean. You don't get it, do you? I don't care if I save anyone's life. You know, maybe if day after day I wasn't killing things, I wouldn't have had to drop out of school, and maybe I would've been given the opportunity to find myself."  
"You've plenty of free time."  
"Plenty of free time, oh, excuse me, between practice? Study? Trips to the weirdo shop on the corner for holy water, stakes, spellbooks? We're supposed to be living in the modern world, Billy. We're not supposed to have adversities, or hardships, or starvation, or pain, or war, or-anything bad that we're seeing now."  
William grinned.  
"We'll soon see the end of it, Miss Sterling. We're seeing the end of the original evil."  
"Original evil? God, don't go all preachy on me. I'm sick of hearing the church-going weirdo's standing on the corner preaching that there's salvation."  
"Don't mind me if I'm rude, Mandy, but you've seen demons, spirits, vampires, the whole nine yards of demonic and supernatural forces. What about this makes it so hard for you to believe?"  
She closed her eyes. Her parents had never been strongly religious people, but neither had they out-and-out rejected what they believed to be the truth. There was nothing more to trust. She knew, however, that she didn't want to return to her rickety old apartment, which would surely be all boarded up now. Sighing heavily, she lifted her gaze to her new watcher.  
"I'm not sure yet if we're to set sail for England under the dangerous circumstances. The Watcher's Council is expected to depart for Canada, where we feel it's much, much safer. The goal now is to gather as many Slayers as we can and disperse them in groups worldwide to maintain order."  
"So? So, how many Slayers do you think there are?"  
She could see him fidgeting under his coat.  
"How many? Millions? Thousands?"  
"Hundreds."  
"Hundreds?" she asked. Her blood ran cold in her bones. There were approximately four-and-a-half billion people left on the planet and millions more vampires and demons running amuck on the streets. How were two hundred girls-the size of a metropolitan police force-expected to take the entire world into their hands?  
"I know this sounds futile," he whispered. "But trust me, Mandy. We can make this work-"  
"Make it work? And how do you figure so? We're all on the time-to-die list, and here we are, making jovial conversation. I'd rather lie down and die."  
"I don't think you'll have to wait very long."  
Her eyes burned onto him, wanted to see his skin burst into boils and seared flesh. And then she felt the razors bury into her shoulder like a thousand stabbing knives. Letting out a shriek, she flung her arm back at the vampire's face. Hearst had tossed a stake to her.  
"Hurry, Mandy-stake it!"  
With lightning speed, she was able to rip her arm back and plunge the wooden shard into the beast's chest. It recoiled, let out a cry, and sank back as its fleshy figure transformed into a puddle of dust in the air. Breathing heavily, she turned to William. A grin had formed on his lips.  
"Excellent maneuvering, though I must admit that you panicked slightly. That's something quite dangerous in the business of vampire slaying.  
"Yeah, well, whatever. What do we do now?"  
He bit his lip.  
"Well, I suppose we could try to schedule a flight to Ontario tomorrow morning. We'll stay at a hotel, very low-key. The Watcher's Council has given us everything we need-passports especially. The Slayers are perhaps the most at stake."  
"Why?"  
It didn't take long for the growl to echo behind her. As she turned on her heels, she could feel the crushing blow against her skull as she lost consciousness, and then the words that came as she fell to the carpet.  
  
"New orders. Every Slayer's to be executed." 


	3. Solo Hands

III  
  
Speckles of sunlight radiated through the window, stirring Mandy Sterling from her state of unconsciousness. How long had she been out? Just the night before, she had made a run for her life, only to run into a less- than-desirable replacement for her raptured watcher. Everything had begun so quickly. Being from the poorer side of Harlem, Mandy saw lots of criminal activity-but the slums weren't highpoints for the fanged people in the state. They preferred mansions, classy casinos, martinis, cigars, and caviar. Vampires certainly had good taste.  
"Hello?" She mumbled, sitting upright. Her eyes flickered open to examine her surroundings. It definitely wasn't where she'd imagined she'd end up.  
She was seated upon the plush seat of the back of a squad car, neatly strapped in to her seat. The sun had just started to rise over the bleak horizon-a sad reminder that she would live another day in this horrible world. An anonymous driver briefly glanced in his mirror to look back at her, and she cowered back slightly in fear. He was an officer, she could see. She could see the edge of his tarnished copper badge.  
Aaron?  
Almost as if he could read her thoughts, he pulled off to the side of the road and tugged the keys from the ignition. Slowly, he turned in his seat to gawk back at her.  
"You look like Hell," she commented. One of his eyes wavered, the black flesh surrounding it a grotesque, swollen lump that almost sealed his beautiful silver eyes shut. His lip and jaws had taken severe punishment as well, bleeding and swollen. She puckered her lips. He must've arrived just in time to save her.  
"Thanks," he mumbled. "You should get a check at yourself. I'm surprised you're still with us, the way they were beating on you and all."  
She nodded slowly, lowering her head. The cold steel of something crushing into her skull reminded her of the incident yesterday night. William Hearst could not have made it much further without her protection, handicapped as he was. She bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes. It wasn't his fault that she hadn't taken a liking to him-he was merely trying to do his job, trying to keep her protected from the outside world. Her eyes glazed over.  
"Mr. Temple, you didn't happen to find another man at the scene, did you?"  
Aaron exhaled, biting his lip as he studied her.  
"There was another man. Before I could do anything, they'd up-and-out gathered him up and carried him off. I grabbed you before anymore was done to you."  
Mandy swallowed.  
"Did you see their faces?"  
He puckered his lips, amused.  
"It wouldn't have been my first time."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I know what you are, Mandy. The Slayer, right? Those guys were mumbling about it when I walked in, and quite frankly, I never believed that people like you were for real. You see, when I was an adolescent, I had an extreme interest in the supernatural. I found every book I could find about legends, fables."  
"If you don't mind my asking, what led you to it?"  
"President Savannah's rise to power. You know, we were a religious little community. Synagogues, mosques, churches on the street corners, lining every stop sign you came to. We attended an Episcopal Church just down Windriver, and my dad wanted for a long time to be ordained its Minister. When that escapade didn't work out, I suppose he was getting more and more down in the dumps. My mother shot herself when we couldn't afford to pay the bills, and my siblings did so many drugs that eventually their hearts couldn't stand it any longer. At least my dad was taken."  
"Taken?"  
"So you're another one-huh? You think it's all just a bunch of lies. Your skepticism will reward you greatly in Hell."  
"That's a bunch of gibberish and you know it."  
"The world is being overrun by demons, and you think that Satan's the Sandman? The Boogey man? Look, you're the biggest hypocrite I've ever seen."  
She folded her arms and sank back into her seat.  
"So you're not open about your faith?"  
"Why would I?" He turned back to the steering wheel, slowly pushing his key back into the ignition as the vehicle slowly accelerated down the highway. "That guy you were with mentioned something about Ontario."  
"Ontario. It's a barren wasteland by now, isn't it? Weren't they hit with a missile a few years ago?"  
"Don't know. I guess I never cared too much about other countries until all of this came up. We're not untouchable anymore, but that gentleman seemed adamant that you get to Ontario."  
"What do we do when we get there?"  
"Hell if I know. If you said they were bombed, wherever I'm supposed to take you should be in plain view."  
She sighed softly, looking out the window. They were in the slums of Detroit, looking to all of the vagrants, the demolished wasteland of the old Comerica Park. Even the Ambassador Bridge looked so rickety in comparison to when Mandy had been there five years earlier to visit her Auntie Caroline. Surely even Caroline was gone now.  
"So. You seem to have quite the life, Miss Sterling. Care to talk about some of your escapades from your lifetime?"  
She rested her head back against the plush headrest, closing her eyes. There was so much to tell. It was like a barrier of unrest had been lifted from her shoulders. Her parents and brothers and sisters had never known that she was going out at night to slay demons and vampires, on occasion when her Watcher told her it was necessary-they assumed she was going out with friends, going to a party, visiting the Church to make amends with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She felt especially bad about the latter lie because she had never really taken the opportunity to find Jesus.  
"Yeah. When I was a kid, my dad had a horrible gambling problem. We lost our savings, moved into that condemned apartment you saw. He got rid of his problem and found Jesus, but, as you know, doesn't help the financial situation much. My mom and dad had this weird happiness that really didn't make any sense. All of us still managed to go to school somehow, and we had food to eat, some clothes to wear. Up until they vanished, everyone was happy. Jessie and Dillon were getting accepted to the Christian College in Brook Banks, Colorado, and Sabrina was going to enter the Middle School. And for the past few weeks, I've been living by myself. Stealing food to live, killing vampires for desperate people for money. I'm their last hope, the way I figure it."  
"Ah. Intriguing. Yet another morality-less beast on the road."  
"Hey!"  
"Well, don't come cryin' to me when something's killing you. What goes around comes around. How old are you?"  
"Eighteen."  
"And I'm almost twenty-one. I've got the power of authority over you, and God knows, with the trouble you're in so far, you'll really need someone to guide you."  
"That's what I have another watcher for."  
He slammed on his brakes right in the middle of the vacant Highway. Everything was barren as he turned to face you.  
"Kid, something's telling me there's no way in Hell that guy made it out alive." 


	4. Demonic Intentions

IV  
  
"We've got a strange visitor you should get a look at, Your Excellency."  
"Yes, yes, bring him in," Savannah chuckled darkly, his black, withered eyes darting expectantly to his office door. In seconds, it burst open with a few burly guards dragging a fragile, handicapped man through the door. His white cane clattered to the floor shortly before they threw him to the ground. He sputtered and inhaled sharply to stifle his sobs.  
"He's got plenty of fake identification on him, Mr. President. Passports for a 'George Caucus' and 'Sarah Ballinger,' both of whom are non- existent in our records. We managed to get him to reveal his true identity. He's William Hearst."  
"Hearst? My, that seems like such a familiar name."  
"The Watcher's Council," one of the guards muttered. "We've been keeping our eye on them, Your Excellency. Their radical group has not failed, despite all of the ammunition brought against them."  
The beady-eyed President leaned back in his chair, curiously quirking an eyebrow.  
"And the girl?"  
"Girl?"  
"Oh, you idiots, have I not told you again and again and again? Wherever there is a Watcher, a girl is often not far behind."  
The guard cleared his throat nervously, his pale eyes wandering back and forth.  
"Our orderlies reported seeing a woman. They're simple men, as you know surely, Your Excellency. She must've slipped away."  
"The idiots! They should have known what he was up to! God only knows the Watcher's Council exists for only one purpose! And yet, still, despite being able to complete half their job, they still manage to leave our main priority in New York."  
"They were chased away," the guard explained. "A very tough young man burst in, it's reported. A police officer in New York City."  
Savannah narrowed his eyes.  
"A police officer of New York City strictly disobeyed not only the European Union's orders, but also the orders by his very own countrymen and President? He's tying his own noose."  
"Yes, Your Excellency, and the gentleman was scheduled to perform his legal duties on the streets again today. Word is that he never punched in. He was scheduled to arrive at the library last night with his fellow officers on the accounting of a 'problem.' Vampires, as we know."  
"Yes, but the blockheads won't know a single thing about what we intend to do." Savannah paused, his eyes gleaming. "I knew you before you were born, Harris, and you have not disappointed me yet. This is our greatest step forward to a world of grace and unity. Who am I, child?"  
The man swiftly sank to a knee, both out of fear and great respect to the beast before him. William forced his eyes shut to avoid seeing the abomination, although he couldn't help but hear it in his ears.  
"You are the God, the life of the peoples left on this planet."  
"Yes, yes, good boy," Savannah chuckled before his lips cracked into a smile. For the first time, he glanced down at Hearst. "My, you're a bit smaller than I would've imagined you to be. What seems to be the problem, Mr. Hearst? A little weakened-hmm, perhaps by a vampire?"  
William bit his tongue to avoid letting curses ring out from his mouth. In his youth, he had gone to great lengths to follow in his father's footsteps as a watcher. The delusional old man had wished for years that his only son would have been a daughter instead, to follow the routes and footsteps in the prints left by previous slayers. It had enraged William Hearst Senior that his child was male, thus leaving the younger Hearst to several hours of daily practice to become the likeliness of a Slayer. William's last journey as a 'Slayer' had cost his father's life and his own physical health. His leg had been crushed as he wandered down a small cave in his native London-and judgment had been swift. As he passed through the mines, a strange shaking began. The collapse dulled the muscles in William's legs until they were inevitably obsolete masses of flesh dangling from his body.  
"My private life is none of your business," he snapped, and after a pause, he added, "Your Excellency."  
"Mm, yes. I would certainly hope you'd refer to me with some ounce of kindness. Oh, you mistake my intentions dearly, Mr. Hearst. My job isn't to hurt or destroy you."  
William couldn't see as the man gestured to the guards standing at the door. Strong, devilish hands gripped William's weak shoulders, causing him to moan and cry out in a mixture of pain and sadness. What could become of Amanda Sterling if he weren't about to guide her? In their limited exposure to one another, she hadn't proven to be much of a Slayer-and he supposed, he hadn't proved himself very well as a Watcher. He blinked tears of agony away from his eyes as he glanced to the demonic force sitting at his desk, his hands neatly folded upon some of the documents he'd been looking over.  
"No, William Hearst. My job isn't to hurt or destroy you at all. It's to pulverize you." 


End file.
